Bounty 17
by John Bethany
Summary: This is my attempt to capture the coolness of Boba Fett in a short two chapter story. Plz review and tell me if you want more...or less. Complete.
1. The Rendezvous

The twinkling spotlights flickered across the skyline of Nar Shaddar. The landing bays and ports hummed with an other-worldly sound and invited the array of ships that hung overhead to join in the company of their brothers. The jagged shapes of the buildings jutted up into the thin atmosphere that managed to cling onto the moon. It was a casual night on the urban sprawl of Nar Shaddar, attracting all manners of bounty hunters, miscreants, and low lives.

The hull of Slave 1 rested silently inside the hangar of Bay 16, it's owner leaning against the side of his ship. Boba Fett eyed the calibration chamber on his laser carbine, the dial clicking as he twisted it back in place. He had been away on 'business' and had come to claim his reward. His beaten and worn Mandalorian armour shimmered with unholy prowess from the hangar lights, his battle scars worn with pride.

The Ugnaught dockworker scampered from his resting spot and attached a cable to Slave 1's fuel line. Its dull blue shell-suit resembled the beady blank eyes that were concealed in its horrifically twisted features; it hunched over itself and begged the pleasing of the callous bounty hunter. Boba turned his head to look as if he was giving the creature what it wanted. The Ugnaught squealed in delight and scurried back under the mass of wires and scrap metal it came from.

Fett flicked the calibration meter back inside the weapon and concealed it under his camouflage-patterned cloak. He paced out towards the personnel doors of the hangar, each step clanking against the metal flooring. He had a meeting to attend; he needn't be late.

* * *

Up in the V.I.P section of "Moff's Lounge" sat the crime lord Karnal Moff. He reclined on his velvet-lined chair, stroking his stump of a hand. He was a Gran, a freakish alien with a slobbering snout and three blackened eyes on stalks. His body was large and bulbous in places, which wasn't unusual for a Gran, yet Karnal had more bulbs and lumps than most Grans. His right hand was severed at the wrist from a foiled assassination attempt, a bony stump at the tip of his forearm. He was sat looking over the bar room floor, surveying his guests like a Wamp rat over it's prize. He chuckled softly to himself and drooled slightly as he wallowed in his sense of self-satisfaction.

One of his bodyguards, also a Gran, gestured down to the lower level and murmured to his boss, "Sir, Fett is coming." Karnal pushed his head forward and saw the armoured figure of the aforementioned bounty hunter making his way through the crowds that swelled and fluctuated in a drunken orgy. Karnal giggled some more to himself and slobbered to his bodyguard, "Bring him up here, it's about time I got a chance to talk with my benefactor."

Boba Fett sat himself opposite the fat, drooling crime boss, who laughed even as he spoke. Karnal rolled around on his luxury chair, "So, Fett…" he slavered, "How did business go on Coruscant?" The bounty hunter shimmied his shoulders, "You should know Karnal, you sent some of your thugs to 'oversee' the deal." Karnal's face stopped salivating for a brief second as the thought of his henchmen being butchered by the faceless bounty hunter flooded the front part of mind. Karnal's face twisted in rage at Fett's actions. Although it wasn't visible through his menacing Mandalorian helmet, Fett broke a brief smile at watching the alien's face blur even more so into a picture of fury.

Karnal leaned in toward Fett and grumbled, "What is the current situation with Migram Halstrooy?" The grim warrior rubbed his shoulder plate and rasped, "See for yourself…" from within his belt pouch, Fett produced a small jar and slid it across the bar-room table to Karnal. It screeched sharply across it's path over the table. Karnal sneered at Fett in a dismissive manner. The bounty hunter relaxed in his chair and said confidently, "There he is." Karnal raised his head to meet Fett on eye level, "Things got a little heated," explained Fett. Karnal slammed his single swollen hand down onto the table, "I SAID NO DISTINTEGRATIONS!" Spittle launched from Karnal's mouth and landed on Fett's glove; he retracted his hand and wiped the fluid onto the table. He had enough of this.

The bounty hunter straightened his back and addressed Karnal, "You have your prize, now give me the money" Karnal looked to his entourage and laughed mockingly at Fett. The portly alien jostled on his chair and chortled, "You broke the deal Fett. I said no disintegrations and you give me a jar," his voice sank into menace, "I can't hang this on my wall! You let me down Fett…YOU FAIL!" The crime boss began to haul his frame from out his chair when the bounty hunter called out, "Don't push what little luck you have left, Moff. Give. Me. My. Money" Karnal coughed another laugh toward Fett, "You are in no position to bargain Fett, now be gone before you do something you regret." One of Karnal's goons approached Boba Fett with a blaster aimed at his head; Karnal chuckled at Fett's predicament.

Fett slowly moved his hand to his concealed left-hand side where he hid his carbine. He did this so slowly that it wasn't noticeable unless you constantly watched him, which Karnal had neglected to do. The large alien kingpin wobbled with his rolling laughter, and beneath his helmet, Boba Fett shined a brief sinister grin.

In a single swift movement, the bounty hunter pulled his carbine out from beneath his cloak and aimed it behind him. He emptied a round into the guard behind him from point blank range and then brought the weapon forward. He blasted both guards on either side of Karnal in the face with freakish precision. The crime boss looked about him at the bodies that sat smouldering around his lounge. He glanced back to Fett who levelled his wrist gauntlet at Karnal and fired a dart into his shoulder. Karnal couldn't feel the dart take impact and continued to stumble out the door that lead to his private hangar. Boba looked at the monitor on his wrist gauntlet, the homing beacon perfectly displayed Karnal's current fleeing position. He stretched his fingers out and gripped his weapon tightly; there was a change in the plan; Boba Fett liked change.


	2. The Catch

The interior of Hangar V-21G was unlike any other hangar in the galaxy. It wasn't so much a hangar as it was a trophy room. Adorning the walls in gruesome glee were the remains of the hangar's enemies, shards of corpses, blackened bones and skulls, de-activated weaponry that collected dust and rust in equal amounts, and several entire bodies pinned up to the walls with little regard for modesty.

Right in the centre of the hangar, squatting like a cancerous sore on an unsuspecting arm, was the flagship of the hangar's owner, the _Grim Ordnance 5 _(called so due to its vast firepower, and the fact that it had been blown apart and rebuilt five times previously). Its dull desert metal colour seemed out of place amongst the velvet flags and lengths of fabric that fluttered down the walls of the hangar. The large ship hummed a whispering tune to itself as it's owner stumbled into view.

Karnal Moff couldn't keep up with his feet. With each step he took, they found new and harmful ways to wind themselves up and become ensnared, before letting the portly alien fall flat onto his front. This happened several times before Karnal collected himself and continued his escape. He had no reason to wait around.

As Karnal brought himself close enough to the ship, he heard the clank of steel-toed boot, to hangar floor. He dared to look behind him, and did so on the off chance he could be wrong as to his company was. He was right. Boba Fett leaned casually against the doorframe that led to the hangar; his helmet spat the light back from the overhead illuminators. Both his hands lay in each other in front of him, ever so nonchalantly tapping against his armour plating.

Karnal began to drool uncontrollably as his nerves shot off like fireworks. Fett pulled himself from the doorframe and slowly paced toward Moff. Each step connected to the ground with a shuddering bang.

Moff panicked and went for his side arm. Fett simply pulled his carbine from beneath his cloak and blasted Karnal in the shin. The blazing round bore deep into the alien's leg. He collapsed and howled as the pain of the blast screeched into his brain. With his weapon still trained on the alien, Fett moved in.

He took this moment to examine his victim, the way his beady little eyes rolled in dire suffering, the jerky movement of his fingers on his remaining hand, the sizzling odour of burnt Gran flesh. It sickened him that such a creature could have such prestige as to be a crime-boss.

Fett eased in on Karnal and forced a boot straight onto his large chest. The swirl and gurgle of bodily fluids moaned as the bounty hunter applied pressure to the grotesque alien's torso. Karnal whimpered from his wound and cried, "Alright! Alright! Fett…name your price, it's yours, just leave me alone…" Fett crouched down to meet his 'associate' face-to-face, "I didn't have one in mind," he rasped to Karnal. The groaning figure lolled on his back and bubbled out, "Well…p-please take anything, just, s-spare, m…m…me."

Fett stood upright again and browsed around the scummy hangar, "There is nothing you can give me…" croaked the bounty hunter. Moff raised his large claw to his face and began to sob softly to himself; he was dead, he knew it. "However," continued the notorious character, "There is something I can take." Moff wiped back his pathetic tears, "Go on Fett…take it!" he pleaded, his free hand raised up in mercy.

With a brutal movement, Fett brought his foot into Moff's face, smacking his skull straight into the floor. Whilst the slobbering fool tried to make sense of the bounty hunter's uncalled attack, Fett pulled out his survival knife. His eyes fleeted back and forth across the bloody and beaten features of the crime-lord and with a single action flung his knife downwards.

The resulting screech was more harrowing than that of a pack of Tusken Raiders on a sacrificial hunt. Moff leaned to see his arm pinned to the hangar floor, a large Mandalorian survival knife protruding awkwardly out of it. He screamed and wailed like an orphan child, yet Fett took no heed of his cries. He grabbed a hold of his knife and jaggedly forced it down through Moff's arm, separating it from the rest of his body.

With a last twist, Fett was done. The arm had been barbarically ripped from it's very seams. Moff writhed on the floor, blood spraying and coughing everywhere from the tattered wound. Fett held the severed limb proudly, his prize now in his clutches: the last hand of Karnal Moff.

Moff flopped around cursing the foulest words of his native tongue. Fett shook the remaining blood from the arm and affixed it to his bandolier of trophies made from braided Wookie hair. He brushed himself down and walked on back to the door from whence he came. Moff managed to pick himself up sluggishly and roared to Boba, "THIS ISN'T OVER FETT! I'LL FIND YOU, AND WHEN I DO…YOU. WILL. PAAAAAAYYYYYY!"

Fett looked back at the enraged crime boss. He could see the fury that gripped his every muscle, the blind anger that filled his eyes, the determination that fuelled his every action. This one was not willing to make it easy for Boba Fett.

Without a moment's pause, Fett drew his carbine and blasted two gaping holes into Karnal's chest. The alien slumped dead to the cold hangar floor, more blood oozing like sludge from his dead wounds. Fett withdrew his weapon and once again paced back to his ship. His bounty was complete.


End file.
